iConference 2012 | Culture • Design • Society
Contents
- Overview: Toronto Shines During iConference 2012
- Workshops, Welcomes, and Keynote
- Official Program and 2nd Keynote
- Honors, Awards, and Upcoming Contest
- Colloquia, Sponsors, and Upcoming iConferences
- About the iSchools
Overview: Toronto Shines During iConference 2012
Held outside the United States for the first time in the seven-year history of the series, iConference 2012 represented a true bellwether event, providing further evidence of the international nature of the iSchools movement. Conducted in Toronto under unseasonably mild and sunny skies, the well-attended conference provided an excellent networking environment for the gathered representatives of the information community, while at the same time offering a high-quality program consisting of the very best selections from the record-level of submissions received.
Hosted by the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, and held at the Downtown Eaton Centre Marriott on Feb. 7-10, 2012, iConference 2012 was the second-best attended event in the conference series; its more than 485 registered participants put it within 10 percent of last year’s record-shattering registration figures in Seattle. Organizers unanimously agreed that iConference 2012 represented an outstanding showing for the conference’s first venture outside the U.S.
Workshops, Welcomes, and Keynote
In what has become an iConference tradition, the event got started on Tuesday, Feb. 7, with nine engaging and informative workshops. Topics included “Championing the Impact of Sociotechnical Research,” an ongoing exploration and discovery process within the Sociotechnical community; “ ‘It’s Okay to Look’: The Interdisciplinary Agenda of Online Dating Research,” an integrated, interdisciplinary exploration of how this most basic human activity is facilitated by means of technology; and “Hack Your Books,” an off-site event addressing archival preservation through new societal developments of the open source and hacker movements.
On Wednesday, the conference program officially kicked off with welcomes from Conference Chair Jens-Erik Mai and Host Dean Seamus Ross, both of the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto (click here for a list of all conference organizers). This was followed by an introduction from newly installed iCaucus Chair Liz Liddy, dean of the School of Information Studies at Syracuse. In her speech, Liddy traced the history of the iCaucus, governing body of the iSchools organization and presenters of the iConference series, from its informal origins as a handful of forward-thinking deans, to its present-day status in which it represents 33 institutions in eight nations worldwide.
The opening keynote followed Liddy’s address, delivered by University of Toronto Political Science Professor Ron Deibert, head of the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies. Deibert examined how global cybercrime has grown with the creation of a grey economy that presents opportunities for enrichment, and how the rise of social networks, cloud computing, and mobile technologies has created new challenges to privacy. Deibert also noted that well-intended enforcement efforts by corporations and governments were often more dangerous than the security threats they were intended to address, concluding: “We may end up killing the Internet in our efforts to save it.”
Official Program and 2nd Keynote
The official iConference 2012 program consisted of 53 papers, 95 posters, and 20 alternative events. The initial Call for Participation, issued in May of 2011, precipitated more than 360 submissions over the course of the summer, a record level outstripping that of any previous conference in the series. The resulting high overall quality of accepted material was a testament to the ever-increasing quality of the iConference series. As was the case last year, all papers and poster abstracts have been published in the ACM Digital Library.
A second keynote address was delivered on Thursday by Professor Geoffrey Nunberg of the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley. Nunberg, who has authored many linguistic-oriented books and regularly comments on language for National Public Radio, examined the problematic nature of information as a term, as a general concept, and in the context of iSchools. Nunberg’s thoughts were highly praised in the question segment of the session, in which comments and inquiries focused on the historical development of iSchools and their meaning in contemporary academia. (Click here to view a pdf of Nunberg's presentation.)
Honors, Awards, and Upcoming Contest
On Thursday evening, authors of the conference’s best papers and posters were feted at the traditional Awards Banquet. Festivities kicked off with a presentation made to outgoing iCaucus Chair Harry Bruce, dean of the University of Washington Information School. In addition, Presenting Sponsor and long-time friend of the conference Microsoft Research unveiled its plans for a social-media-oriented student contest, to be conducted during course of the ensuing year; finalists will be brought to next year’s iConference to compete for first prize.
This was followed by the formal presentation of awards, as summarized below.
2012 Best Paper Awards (listed in order of original submission number):
- 160: Studying the Values of Hard-to-Reach Populations: Content Analysis of Tweets by the 21st Century Homeless (Jes A. Koepfler, University of Maryland, College Park; Kenneth R. Fleischmann, University of Maryland, College Park)
- 195: Rural Anchor Institution Broadband Connectivity: Enablers and Barriers to Adoption (Lauren H. Mandel, The Florida State University; Nicole D. Alemanne, The Florida State University; Charles R. McClure, The Florida State University)
- 203: Networked Cultural Heritage and Socio-Digital Inequalities: A Case Study in an African-American Community (Noah Lenstra, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Abdul Alkalimat, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
- 245: Managing fixity and fluidity in data repositories (Morgan Daniels, University of Michigan; Ixchel Faniel, OCLC; Kathleen Fear, University of Michigan; Elizabeth Yakel, University of Michigan)
- 276: Private Sector Video Surveillance in Toronto: Not Privacy Compliant! (Andrew Clement, University of Toronto; Joseph Ferenbok, University of Toronto; Roxanna Dehghan, University of Toronto; Laura Kaminker, University of Toronto; Simeon Kanev, University of Toronto)
2012 Best Poster Awards (listed in order of original submission number):
- 115: Does the Use of Place Affect Learner Engagement? The Case of GeoStoryteller on the Streets of New York (Anthony Cocciolo, Pratt Institute; Debbie Rabina, Pratt Institute)
- 380: We Are Visible: Technology-Mediated Social Participation in a Twitter Network for the Homeless (Jes A. Koepfler, University of Maryland, College Park; Derek L. Hansen, University of Maryland, College Park)
- 412: Facets of Access: a Typology of Information Dissemination Systems (Elisabeth A. Jones , University of Washington, University of Michigan; Joseph T. Tennis, University of Washington)
- 438: From Data to Knowledge: Developing Effective Visualizations for Finding Inefficiency in Healthcare (Conrad Ng, Dalhousie University; Anatoliy Gruzd, Dalhousie University; Calvino Cheng, Capital District Health Authority, Canada)
- 451: Green Washing the Digital Playground: How Virtual Worlds Support Ecological Intelligence...or Do They? (Eric Meyers, University of British Columbia; Bittner Robert, University of British Columbia)
2012 Best Poster Runners-Up (listed in order of original submission number):
- 422: Removing Records Documenting Acts of Violence and Atrocities from the Archive (Emily Kozinski, McGill University; Carolyn Hank, McGill University)
- 423: Habitat Tracker: Learning About Scientific Inquiry Through Digital Journaling in Wildlife Centers (Paul F. Marty, Nicole Alemanne, et al., The Florida State University)
- 433: Towards a Logical Form for Descriptive Metadata Karen Wickett, University of Illinois; Allen Renear, University of Illinois)
- 442: The DataRes Research Project on Data Management (Martin Halbert, University of North Texas; William Moen, University of North Texas; Spencer Keralis, University of North Texas)
- 463: Will You Be My Friend?: Responses to Friendship Requests from Strangers (Sameer Patil, Indiana University)
Colloquia, Sponsors, and Upcoming iConferences
iConference 2012 wrapped up on Friday with a doctoral colloquium financed through a grant from the National Science Foundation. An early career colloquium was also offered for postdocs and junior faculty. The conference officially concluded with a Farewell Reception.
The Presenting Sponsor of iConference 2012 was Microsoft Research. Additional Support was provided by Branchfire, Emerald Group Publishing, and Morgan & Claypool Publishers. Branchfire sponsored the Opening Reception, Emerald supported the Best Papers awards, Morgan & Claypool Publishers the Best Posters awards.
The iConference returns to the U.S. for next year’s event, iConference 2013. Hosted by the University of North Texas College of Information, the eight annual iConference is slated for February 12-15, 2013, in Fort Worth, Texas. The official Call for Participation will be issued in spring of 2012. Long-time sponsor Microsoft Research has affirmed that it will once again sponsor the event.
For 2014 the iConference will move to Germany, where it will be hosted by the Berlin School of Library and Information Science at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, in partnership with the School of Information and Library Studies at University College Dublin (Ireland), the Royal School of Library and Information Science (Denmark), and the Information School at the University of Sheffield (England).
About the iSchools: preparing for information challenges of the 21st Century
The iConference series is presented by the iSchools organization, a worldwide collective of Information Schools dedicated to advancing the information field, and preparing students to meet the information challenges of the 21st Century. The iSchools' governeing body is the iCaucus. With interdisciplinary programs focused on information technology, library science, informatics, and more, each individual iSchool has its own strengths and specializations. Together, they share a fundamental interest in the relationships between information, people, and technology.
Contacts for Follow-up
iConference 2012 was hosted by the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto.
Questions about iConference 2012, as well as about future iConferences, can be directed to Conference Coordinator ..
Questions pertaining to individulat tracks from iConference 2012 (papers, posters, workshops, AEs, and colloquia) may be addressed to their respective track chairs; see our Organizers Page for contact information.
